Thursday, 7 August 2014

Indian Polity Current Affairs for Prelims 2014

·About 58 per cent of MPs, who were
elected to the new Lok Sabha, are 'first-timers', making them the highest
number of debutant members elected to the lower house in the last 30 years.

·About 215 Lok Sabha MPs are first
timers(debutants to Lok Sabha)

(2) The newly constituted Lok Sabha is 16th Lok
Sabha

(3)
68 Bills lapsed at the end of 15th Lok Sabha

·15 th Lok Sabha passed
177 bills of the 326 it had listed for consideration and passing in its five
year tenure. This is the least number of bills passed by a full five-year-term
Lok Sabha. Some of the important bills lapsed are:

·The Constitution
(108th Amendment) Bill to reserve 50 per
cent of seats in Parliament and the legislatures for women.

·The Judicial
Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010: It was meant to to lay down
enforceable standards of conduct for judges. It also requires judges to declare
details of their and their family members' assets and liabilities.

·The Electronic
Delivery of Services Bill, 2011: This landmark bill required public authorities
to deliver all public services electronically within a maximum period of eight
years.

·The Civil Aviation
Authority of India Bill, 2013: It proposed to establish a Civil Aviation
Authority of India (CAA) to replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) as the civil aviation safety regulator, under overall oversight of the
Ministry of Civil Aviation.

·The Coal
Regulatory Authority Bill, 2013: This bill which was bought after the alleged
coal scam, sought to establish an independent regulatory authority for the coal
sector.

·The Direct Taxes
Code Bill, 2010: This bill consolidates and amend the law relating to direct
taxes such as income-tax and wealth-tax.

·The Educational
Tribunals Bill, 2010: It sought to set up educational tribunals at the national
and state level to adjudicate disputes involving teachers and other employees
of higher educational institutions and other stakeholders such as students,
universities and statutory regulatory authorities.

(4)
Judicial Appointment

·It is dealt in Art 124(2) of Indian
Constitution (Every Judge of the Supreme Court
shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after
consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High
Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary for the purpose and
shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty five years: Provided that
in the case of appointment of a Judge other than the chief Justice, the chief
Justice of India shall always be consulted)

·Status till 1981: Chief Justice of India initiated the proposal,very often in consultation with his senior colleagues and his
recommendation was considered by the President(in the sense explained hereinabove)
and, if agreed to, the appointment was made. By and large, this
was the position till 1981.

·S.P. Gupta vs. Union of India(1981)(First Judges Case): The concept of primacy of the Chief
Justice of India is not really to be found in the Constitution.
'Consultation’under Art 124(2) does not
mean ‘concurrence’. So the balance tilted in favour of Executive

·Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association Vs. Union of India(1993) (Second Judges case). It over-ruled the decision in S.P.Gupta case. Itheld that the recommendation in that behalf
should be made by the Chief Justice of India in consultation with his two senior-most colleaguesand that such recommendation should
normally be given effect to by the executive.

·1998 Presidential reference case(Third Judges case): Chief Justice of
India and his four senior-most colleagues are now generally referred to as the
‘Collegium’ for the purpose of appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court.

·Constitution (120th Amendment)
Bill, 2013

oBill provides for the
constitution of the Judicial Appointments Commission, comprising of —(a)
the Chief Justice of India, as ex officio Chairperson; (b) two other Judges of
the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of India in seniority as ex officio
Members; (c) the Union Minister in charge of Law and Justice as ex officio
Member; and (d) two eminent persons, to be nominated by the collegium
consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of
Opposition in the House of the People, as members.

oJAC would recommend to
the government persons for appointment to the offices of Chief Justice of
India, judges of the SC, chief justices of the high court and other judges of
the high court

oThe proposed JAC
in India is modelled on the U.K. Judicial Appointment Commission. US Model is much politicised so India went for UK model.
However in UK collegium Politicians do not have a role and only eminent members
have a role.

·Supreme Court held that
homosexuality or unnatural sex between two consenting adults under Section 377
of the Indian Penal Code is illegal and will continue to be an offence. This
provision did not suffer from any constitutional infirmity, it said

·This clarification will hold till,of
course, Parliament chooses to amend the law to effectuate the recommendation of
the Law Commission of India in its 172nd Report which we believe removes a
great deal of confusion.

(7)
Supreme Court Judgment on NOTA

·The direction in the judgment dated 27th
September, 2013 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is to provide a NOTA option on the
EVM and ballot papers so that the electors who do not want to vote for any of
the candidates can exercise their option in secrecy.

·The Supreme Court held that the
provisions of Rule 49-O under which an elector not wishing to vote for any candidate
had to inform the Presiding Officer about his decision, are ultra viresof Article 19 of the Constitution

·Supreme Court held that
a voter could exercise the option of negative voting and reject all candidates
as unworthy of being elected. The voter could press the ‘None of the Above’
(NOTA) button in the electronic voting machine.

·Even if the number of electors opting
for NOTA option is more than the number of votes poled by any of the
candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes has to be
declared elected

(8)
Disqualification of convicted Lawmakers

·Supreme Court struck down Section 8 (4) of the
Representation of the People Act as unconstitutional

·Section 8(4) of RP Act allowed convicted
lawmakers a three-month period for filing appeal to the higher court and to get
a stay of the conviction of offence and sentence

·Section 8 of the RP Act deals with
disqualification on conviction for certain offences: A person convicted of any
offence and sentenced to imprisonment for varying terms under Sections 8 (1)
(2) and (3) shall be disqualified from the date of conviction and shall
continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his
release. But Section 8 (4) of the RP Act gives protection to MPs and MLAs as
they can continue in office even after conviction if an appeal is filed within
three months.

·The Bench found it unconstitutional that
convicted persons could be disqualified from contesting elections but could
continue to be Members of Parliament and State Legislatures once elected.

·The first politicians to lose their Parliament
membership were Congressman Rasheed Masood (convicted for cheating, criminal
conspiracy and forgery and sentenced to 4 years in jail), RJD chief Lalu Prasad
Yadav and JD-U MP Jagdish Sharma (both convicted in the Bihar fodder scam)

(9) Red Light cars judgment

·Supreme Court slammed the rampant misuse of red
beacon lights on cars, saying the practice had “perhaps no parallel in the
world democracies”.

·It directed the states to amend the Motor
Vehicle Rules to restrict the use of the red beacon and impose an exemplary
fine on those who misused it.

(10) Reopening of Dance bars

·Eight years after the Maharashtra government
banned dance bars in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on July 16,2013 ordered for
reopening

·Deciding on the constitutionality of the ban on
dance performances in bars in Maharashtra imposed under the Bombay Police
(Amendment) Act of 2005, the apex court gave its order in favour of the bar
owners and dancers’ union who had contended that the ban on bar dances in some
establishments while permitting them in others was contrary to the rule of
equality enshrined in Article 14.

·The Supreme Court ruled that bureaucrats should
not act on verbal orders given by political bosses, as it sought an end to
frequent transfers and suggested a fixed tenure to insulate them from political
interference

(12)Judgement on Transgenders

·PIL filed
by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) urging the Supreme Court to give
separate identity to transgenders by recognising them as third category of
gender.

·In a landmark
judgment, the Supreme Court created the "third gender" status for
hijras or transgenders. Earlier, they were forced to write male or female
against their gender.

·The bench
clarified that its verdict pertains only to eunuchs and not other sections of
society like gay, lesbian and bisexuals who are also considered under the
umbrella term 'transgender'.

(13) Jailed persons can contest elections

·The Supreme Court in its judgement on 10
July 2013 had held that a person, who is in jail or in police custody, cannot
contest election to legislative bodies, bringing to an end an era of under
trial politicians fighting polls from behind bars. It said that only a voter
can contest election and a person in police custody has no right to vote.

·Negating the apex court order, Parliament in
September passed a bill that maintains the right of those in jail to contest
polls, with the government saying the court verdict was wrong and the
Legislature has Constitutional duty to correct it.

·The Representation of the People (Amendment and
Validation) Bill, 2013 was rushed through in the Lok Sabha and passed within
about 15 minutes after a brief discussion. The Bill was also passed by Rajya
Sabha subsequently

·After the amendment by Parliament the
current status isjailed persons can
contest elections

(14)
Supreme Court removes 'Private Forest' tag

·About 6.4 lakh acres of
forest land in Maharashtra was with private people including Godreg for years

·HC ordered for
restoration of land to Forest dept

·Supreme Court over
ruled High Court’s decion

·Supreme Court
criticized the state for "lending citizens up a garden path for several
decades" and for its "active consent in permitting construction
through the years'' and said now, residents alone cannot be asked to bear the
brunt. The state cannot be allowed to demolish the "massive constructions
made on it (the land) over the last half century", the court added.

(15)
RTI and Political parties

·Central Information Commission
issuing an order in June 2013 that six national parties - Congress, BJP, NCP,
CPI-M, CPI and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party - have been substantially funded
indirectly by the central government and were required to appoint public
information officers as they have the character of a public authority under the
RTI Act.

·All political parties
opposed the order and, instead, introduced the controversial Right to
Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013, to overturn it. The Bill was later sent to
a parliamentary standing committee which in December declared that political
parties should not be brought under the transparency law because they are not
public authorities created by Parliament.

(16) The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

·Was passed by Indian
Parliament paving the way for establishment of an Lokpal (Ombudsman) to fight
corruption in public offices and ensure accountability on the part of public
officials, including the Prime Minister, but with some safeguards

·Lokpal will consist of
a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50% will be judicial
members. 50% members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women

·Selection of
chairperson and members of Lokpal through a selection committee consisting of
PM, Speaker of Lok Sabha, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of
India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI. Eminent jurist to be
nominated by President of India on basis of recommendations of the first four members
of the selection committee "through consensus".

·Lokpal's
jurisdiction will cover all categories of public servants. All entities (NGOs)
receiving donations from foreign source in the context of the Foreign
Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in excess of Rs 10 lakh per year are under
the jurisdiction of Lokpal

Lokpal will have power of
superintendence and direction over any central investigation agency
including CBI for cases referred to them by the ombudsman.

·A high-powered
committee chaired by the PM will recommend selection of CBI director. The
collegium will comprise PM, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice
of India PM has been brought under purview of the Lokpal, so also central
ministers and senior officials

·It grants powers to
Lokpal to sanction prosecution against public servants.

(17)
Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014

·Hyderabad shall be the common capital of
the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not
exceeding ten years.

·Governor shall have special
responsibility for the security of life,liberty and property of all those who
reside in common capital

·In discharge of the functions, the
Governor shall, after consulting the Council of Ministers of the State of Telangana, exercise his individual judgment as to the action to
be taken(discretionary power of Governor)

·The Greyhound and OCTOPUS forces of the
existing State of Andhra Pradesh shall be distributed between the successor
States after seeking options from the personnel and, each of these forces, on
or after the appointed day shall function under the respective Director General
of Police of the successor States

·(TheGreyhoundsare an
elite commando force oferstwhile
Andhra Pradeshcreated to combat left wing extremists. It is
considered the best anti naxalite force in the country, even above the CRPF's
CoBRA which has more men, budget and better arms than the Greyhounds

·Formation of new States and alteration
of areas, boundaries or names of existing States

·Bill can be introduced only on the
recommendation of President

·If it is related to States(NOT Union
Territory), before introducing in Parliament President has to get the views of
State Legislature(Not Legislative Assembly)

·President may give a time period within
which the State Legislature has to respond

·State Legislature’s CONSENT is NOT
required. Just it is a consultative process.

·After getting State Legislature’s view,
President may introduce the bill in Parliament and if passed by SIMPLE
majority, the bill is approved

(19)
Pro term speaker

·Nine-term Lok Sabha member Kamal Nath
was sworn in as the pro tem Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha

·It is senior BJP leader Lal Krishan
Advani’s 11th term in Parliament- four as a member of the Rajya Sabha and seven
as a member of the Lok Sabha - making him the senior most member.

·Till a regular Speaker is elected, a pro
tem Speaker administers oath to a new House and conducts proceedings.

·Under normal circumstances, a pro tem Speaker
is sworn in by the President

(20) Election Commission of India

·The Election Commission has the power of
superintendence, direction and control of all elections to the Parliament of
India and the state legislatures(Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council)
and of elections to the office of the President of India and the Vice-President
of India.

·Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies election is NOT
conducted by Election Commission of India but by State Election Commission.

·The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from
his office by Parliament with two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.

·Other
Election Commissioners can be removed by the President on the recommendation of
the Chief Election Commissioner